How can glaucoma be diagnosed

Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. A complete eye exam includes a check for glaucoma.

Glaucoma is an eye disease usually caused by having elevated pressure in the eye. Glaucoma can cause vision loss, often without any warning signs or symptoms.

Regular eye exams , including specific diagnostic tests, are important for early detection of glaucoma. If diagnosed early enough, glaucoma can be properly managed to prevent major loss of vision. The following are six tests used to help detect glaucoma. Tonometry is a very common test to measure the pressure inside the eye, also known as intraocular pressure IOP. It is important to understand that having higher pressure than normal does not mean a definite diagnosis of glaucoma.

Although most people fall into a certain normal range, it is possible to have glaucoma with lower eye pressure and not to have glaucoma with higher pressures. What is more important is whether the pressure fluctuates up and down a lot and what that particular eye pressure is doing to your eye.

Ophthalmoscopy is used to examine the inside of the eye. Ophthalmoscopy can be performed on a dilated or undilated eye.

An eye doctor uses special magnifying lenses and medical devices to view the optic nerve. It's important to have regular eye tests so problems such as glaucoma can be diagnosed and treated as early as possible.

Early treatment can help stop your vision becoming severely affected. You should have an eye test at least every 2 years. If you're at a higher risk of glaucoma — for example, if you have a close relative with it — you may be advised to have more frequent tests. You can get an eye test at a local opticians, and the tests are carried out by an optometrist.

Find an optician near you. Some people can receive free eye tests on the NHS. Find out if you're entitled to free NHS eye tests. There are different tests that can be carried out by an optometrist if they suspect you have glaucoma after a routine eye test. An eye pressure test tonometry uses an instrument called a tonometer to measure the pressure inside your eye.

The optometrist will put a small amount of painkilling medicine anaesthetic and dye into the front of your eye. They will then shine a light into your eye and gently touch the surface of it with the tonometer. Some optometrists use a different instrument, which uses a puff of air and doesn't touch the eye, to check pressure. Gonioscopy is an examination to look at the front part your eye — the fluid-filled space between the coloured part iris and the clear window of the front of the eye cornea.

Unfortunately some patients are very anxious during field testing and this may be evident in the results obtained. To date we do not have a completely objective test to determine visual field loss.

Gonioscopy is a test where the angles or drain part of the eye can be directly visualized. In one form of glaucoma, narrow or closed angle glaucoma this area of the eye can close resulting in a very rapid rise in pressure in the eye and very rapid visual loss.

This test is slightly uncomfortable since a small prism lens with mirrors on it is placed on the eye to enable visualization of the angle. When the angle is determined to be very narrowed a laser treatment called an iridotomy is recommended to prevent an attack of glaucoma.

One of the newer measurements during the past 15 years or so is the measurement of corneal thickness. This test is performed by gently placing a small ultrasound probe on the eye to measure the thickness. It is painless and takes only a minute or so to perform. In general when the cornea is thin that may mean that a patient is at higher risk for glaucoma damage. You might as why there are so many diagnostic examinations.

The answer is that diagnosing glaucoma is not always and easy task. There are many factors that may contribute to a diagnosis and each patient is different. Also eye pressure will vary from visit to visit so on any given day the pressure may seem normal even though damage is occurring. Sometimes it may take a few visits to know if there is damage and how extensive the damage is. That is why early diagnosis is important.

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